Back to Basics - website design projects

[JuniorOnline]

Hi ALL,

Lets go back to basics and discuss how each one of us approach a new design project. How do you tend to keep things organised and where do you start? The majority of projects tend to struggle where to start.

One of the projects I am currently working on is a new website design - All I have at this stage is the name of the URL. No logo has been designed yet, no look and feel has been agreed. how do you go about doing this? how much time do you devote for research?

tips and comments are welcome.

thanks
T

[ADAM Web Design]

First of all, I start most design projects from the logo. Most of my clients already have an offline logo, so I just reuse it to keep their branding (I hate that word, but in this case it applies) consistent.

Usually I get my rough layout and colour scheme from that. And then from there, I put my pieces in place, carve it up, and develop.

Usually between 4-8 hours, between coming up with the layout concept, drawing it out, carving it up and coding it.

[JuniorOnline]

Hi Adam

I was about to submit a logo design quotation in your site - and i got this message:

ADAM Web Design is not accepting requests for service at this time due to high service volume requests. Please check back in 2-3 weeks, as the situation does change frequently.

I honestly think it's great that you are open and honest about things. usually websites accept projects and they are unable to meet the deadlines..in fear the customer would go else where.

thanks
T

[ADAM Web Design]

Thanks for noticing. I was actually on that other side of the fence, and had to do this myself.

Work's not exactly an issue right now. :)

[JuniorOnline]

does anyone uses books when it comes to starting a web project design? or is there a website which has the main info to follow?? I think what scares me most is the web testing side of things..how do i know from the start that the coding i am using is 100% compatable with other browsers.

[speed]

Originally Posted by JuniorOnline

I think what scares me most is the web testing side of things..how do i know from the start that the coding i am using is 100% compatable with other browsers.

After a while you will get to know what works across all browsers.

In the mean time I'd suggest you use CSS for styling and stick to standards compliant code, use http://validator.w3.org/ and fix the errors.

Then in each browser you want to support test the site, it's the only way of being sure, valid code does not guarantee that the page will display the same on all browsers although it can help.

You might find http://www.browsercam.com/ useful, I've never used them myself though.

[JuniorOnline]

thanks speed - the 2 sites are really useful.

[JuniorOnline]

do you think the phpbb forums get indexed by the spiders? or do I need to do some changes to the code in order for this to happen?

[vwebworld]

I start by finding out what the client wants/needs to
communicate to what target audience. From there I
develop a "look"/design that helps communicate that
message.

I find that some clients have very specific thoughts
about how they want their site to look... and even
provide sample (sites). I'll review their thoughts
with them pointing out the good and bad points of a
"look" they suggest.

Ultimately, we come to an agreement on the design.

~Roland